The city's draft tobacco control strategy also suggests Plymouth City Council could use its powers to reclassify films showing smoking. "An 18 certificate — usually reserved for movies with violent and sexual content — would be attached to any film release that features the unhealthy habit in an attempt to prevent it from appearing glamorous," reported the Daily Mail. Children's classics such as 101 Dalmatians, Pinocchio and Peter Pan would all be considered adult-only movies.
The idea that appears to have locals up in arms is banning smoking at the already rather smoky fireworks competition on Plymouth Hoe. Mother-of-two Nikki Lee told the Plymouth Herald: "I agree with the smoking ban in pubs and inside, but definitely not in outside spaces. If they banned smoking at the fireworks competition, I just wouldn't go."
Mothers really are super-competitive, vying to outdo each other in everything from birthday parties to their children's achievements, according to a new survey.
"Nearly half wanted their baby to be the first to crawl, walk and talk. And a quarter tried to be the most organised," reported the BBC News website. A fifth of mums also said they liked to hark on about their "lovely husband", found the Mum Poll survey of 3,000 mothers. However, just under 40 per cent said they felt like a failure. "I'm sure that to most mums it would be a massive relief to go round another's house and find it is just as messy as theirs," said a Mum Poll spokeswoman. "To find the children haven't done their GCSEs at age seven and to find the husband working late for the fourth night in a row."
The Fonz — aka Henry Winkler — visited a primary school in Cowbridge, Wales, where he described his childhood battle with dyslexia to pupils, reported the Western Mail.
"For me at school writing was hard, reading was hard, English was hard, maths was hard and history was hard. I was great at lunch though," said the actor-turned-campaigner, who is an ambassador for the My Way! scheme to raise awareness of dyslexia. "I was told I was lazy and stupid and was never going to achieve anything." He told children how a nasty teacher, the aptly-named Miss Adolf, made his life hell: "Her skin was grey, her breath was grey, her spirit was grey. She was a mean, mean teacher." Happy days, then.
Meanwhile across the pond, another celebrity has been bigging up youth clubs. Jennifer Lopez is appearing on billboards as part of the Boys and Girls Clubs Youth Advocacy Campaign, reported Hello magazine.
Lopez searched through her childhood photo albums to find a portrait of her as a little girl, complete with pigtails and a checked pinafore. She used to go to Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club in the Bronx, where she took part in their performing arts programme. "I wanted to be there every day," she said at the campaign launch. "They taught me how to be disciplined and be perseverant and to believe in my God-given talents. They encouraged me to be great in whatever I decided to do. And they taught me that I could do whatever I wanted." So next time you hear someone slating youth clubs, tell them to take it up with J-Lo.
